Family Law with Robert J. Blazak

You have a right to represent yourself in any legal action. However, it is not always wise to do so, and the more complex your case, the less advantageous it is to represent yourself. While some aspects of the case may appear to be simple, you can often overlook subtle issues and put yourself at a disadvantage. One way to consider whether you need a lawyer is to think about the engine in your car. If you can tune up the engine in your car, you don't need a mechanic to do it. However, if you don't know the first thing about car engines, you would be well advised to hire a mechanic to tune it up. The same can be said for filing a divorce action. If you have no idea how to file a divorce, it is probably a good idea to retain an attorney.

Once you have filed a divorce action in King County, you are given a case schedule that sets forth specific deadlines, including providing you with a trial date. However, nothing happens immediately after you file the divorce action unless you take steps to temporarily bring a motion before the court to resolve some issues. These issues typically are who the primary parent will be until the divorce trial or settlement, who pays child support and how much, who lives in the home pending the trial, who gets to use certain property, and does your spouse have to pay any of your attorney's fees. These issues and others must be handled in a motion for temporary relief. The temporary relief motion is typically filed at the same time you filed the divorce case.

A divorce is a legal action to dissolve a marriage and to resolve who gets the property the parties have acquired over the years, either individually or as a community, as well as dividing the debts and determining who the primary parent of the children, if any, will be as well as providing residential time with the children for the non-primary parent. Other issues are also resolved, including maintenance or alimony and whether one party pays the other party's attorneys fees or a portion of those fees. Simply put, a divorce action resolves all the issues between the parties relative to property, debt, and children.

The cost for a divorce varies significantly from attorney to attorney but is also based on the complexity of the divorce. There is no maximum fee you can expect to pay.

The parties must agree on a parenting plan, or the court will impose a parenting plan on the parties. A parenting plan provides each party with a schedule that determines where the children will be at any time during the year. The person who has the children with them the majority of the time is typically called the primary parent. Washington courts no longer use the term "custody" but now use the phrase "primary parent" in lieu of custody.